Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • UTS elects new Chancellor
    • Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear
    • Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in
    • Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report
    • ‘If you silence someone or shush someone, you can get out’: SISTREN is an unabashed celebration of black and trans joy. Is Australia ready?
    • Mark Gowing waxes lyrical on aesthetics, time, language, and his new exhibition ‘This one is a song’
    • NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University
    • Turning Kindness Into Strength in ‘A Different Kind of Power’
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Wednesday, July 9
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»News»Education

    Universities recorded $5.3 billion surplus in 2021, new report shows

    The $1.04 billion surplus recorded at the University of Sydney was easily the largest recorded by a single institution. USyd was followed by the University of Melbourne, with a $584 million surplus, and the University of Queensland with a $332 million surplus.
    By Luke CassMarch 4, 2023 Education 3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Australian universities made a sector-record $5.3 billion surplus in 2021, a report released by the Federal Department of Education shows. 

    This figure represents a substantial increase from the collective $706.8 million surplus made by universities in 2020 and is the largest surplus ever recorded by the Australian university sector. The total surplus recorded by universities has only once exceeded $2 million, in 2019. 

    The $1.04 billion surplus recorded at the University of Sydney was comfortably the largest recorded by a single institution. USyd was followed by the University of Melbourne, with a $584 million surplus, and the University of Queensland with a $332 million surplus.

    Of the 42 universities analysed, only three universities did not record a surplus. 

    The financial results were driven by increased Federal Government funding, at $20.2 billion across the sector, a ten per cent increase on 2020 funding.

    While revenue from international student fees decreased from 2020, it still constituted 22.4% of total university revenue. The decrease from 2020 was sufficiently made up for by increased government funding. USyd received almost 40% of its revenue from international students in 2021, the second highest percentage of any university in the country.

    Investment income increased more than three-fold compared to 2020, also contributing to increased revenue.

    While revenue increased in 2020, Australian universities decreased their expenses by just over five per cent. Much of this was driven by cuts to staff, with universities spending 5 per cent less on staff than in 2020, despite increased revenue and increased cost-of-living pressures on staff over the year. 

    Expenditure on staff has only slightly increased since 2017, the report showed.

    The record surplus calculated by universities in 2021 calls into question their decision to lay-off a combined 9,000 staff across the year, according to further Federal Government data. This number does not include casual staff, which make up 30% of workers in the sector, and is likely much higher.

    National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) President, Alison Barnes, told the Guardian Australia that universities used the pandemic to “aggressively cut jobs,” while their “doomsday financial predictions” did not eventuate. 

    “That expensive and callous move is behind the massive workload pressure and under-resourcing we’re seeing across higher education,” Barnes said.

    The University of Sydney is engaged in ongoing enterprise bargaining negotiations with the NTEU. Despite its surplus and cost-cutting, it has continued to refuse staff a pay rise at, or above inflation. In 2021, the University admitted to stealing $12.75 million of wages from casual staffThe University of Melbourne, which recorded the second largest surplus, has been taken to the Federal Court of Australia for stealing staff wages. It is currently paying back $22.5 of stolen wages, related to a separate claim.

    SURPLUS university

    Keep Reading

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University

    USU June Board Meeting: Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye

    Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas demands apology from Tony Burke and Sky News following eye injury at protest in Belmore

    USyd academics speak out against antisemitism allegations ahead of class action

    Just In

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    July 8, 2025

    Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear

    July 8, 2025

    Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in

    July 8, 2025

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    July 7, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.